1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to electronic academic testing and, more particularly, to a system and method for monitoring the use of handheld devices in a classroom testing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Handheld devices are gaining more capabilities and features that can potentially be used by students to cheat on their exams. Currently, some handheld calculators are allowed to be used during exams if they are in “test-mode” only. Test-mode disables access to applications or programs that could aid the user in taking a test, or to files that may contain previously stored cheat notes. A flashing light-emitting device (LED) light at the top of some handheld calculators is the only indicator that the device is in the testing mode. The teacher or proctor must visually search for the flashing LED light at the top of all handheld calculators used during the exam to verify the calculators remain in the test mode.
This solution may work fine for 10 students, but for a typical class size of 40 students or a typical exam board class size of 80 students, this manual search for LED lights can be ineffective. Also, a student can distract the teacher or proctor during an exam, thus stopping all visual searches for LED lights and enabling other students to get out of test-mode to view cheat notes.
It would be advantageous if a teacher or proctor could easily monitor the use of handheld devices, enabled to operate in a limited function test mode, to prevent cheating in classroom testing environments.